Wormbridge

Wormbridge is a village and ancient parish in the Webtree hundred of Herefordshire, about eight miles south-west of Hereford, on the A465 road. The neighbouring villages are Kilpeck, Didley, Howton, Ewyas Harold, Pontrilas and Crizeley.

The village is part of The Kilpeck Group Parish Council, and is home to several local and larger businesses: Theale Fireplaces, Galanthus Gallery and Cafe, Bridges Childcare, Forge Garage and Tack Shop and NFU Mutual. The village previously had a small school, the building being rented from the Whitfield Estate (see below), until closed by Herefordshire Council due to decreasing numbers. The school building is now used by Bridges Childcare, which has been run successfully since 2003.

Historic houses in the village include: Wormbridge Court, Wormbridge House, Fairacre (formerly Lyon Villa) and Trelough House.

Wormbridge and its church were once owned by the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem. Some of the church architecture, including the entrance door, is Norman, dating from about 1200. The unbuttressed west tower dates from the 13th century, but the top stage and broach spire were added in 1851-59. The church also holds several memorial plaques belonging to local landowners and a private crypt.

Wormbridge Court Farm and the majority of the surrounding land and houses are now owned by Edward George Clive (formally Lennox-Boyd) of Whitfield, grandchild to Lady Mary Katherine Pakenham, sister to Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, Lord Longford.^[1]

Wormbridge Court itself was a 17th-century house facing south on the site of the school playground. The basement window openings of that house are still visible in the retaining wall of the playground. The house was demolished circa 1800 when the Clive family moved to Whitfield, two miles away. The stables were then converted to create Wormbridge Court Farm.

Wormbridge Mill was a watermill on the Worm Brook, which flows near the village. The mill buildings are near Old Mill Farm. Steam power was used to supplement water from about 1890. Milling continued until the early 1920s.^[2]